Economic Empowerment

YWCA La Crosse is an established voice for women's issues and economic empowerment, working to promote participation in the workforce as a means for self-sufficiency. Our programs include safe, affordable childcare, job readiness training and hands-on work experience.

YWCA has 150 years of active advocacy and programming for women's economic empowerment. The YWCA was the first to pioneer employment bureaus and child care centers for women. We also led the push for the eight-hour workday, the elimination of child labor, and creation of a minimum wage. Currently we are leading the fight for fair, paid sick- and family-leave policies.

Employment Readiness and Training is a YWCA La Crosse program that empowers women to achieve self-sufficiency through the development skills needed to secure employment after a lapse in work history. The women are able to earn a stipend through the agency's WE Shine residential and commercial cleaning service while learning how to obtain and keep a job through ongoing training at weekly Job Club sessions.

The YWCA Child Center, located in downtown La Crosse, is a natural fit for our local organization. Its presence aligns with our national and local mission and supports empowerment of women and economic empowerment. The center serves as a 4K site for the School District of La Crosse and a lab setting for early education students enrolled at Western Technical College, allowing for more opportunities for families in the La Crosse area.

We have made progress, but we still have a long way to go

51%

of the population are women

Women Still Make Only $.77 for every dollar that their male counterparts make.

Women earn less than men across all racial and ethnic groups.

Women still cannot see people of their gender equally represented in politics or at the top of U.S. companies